Recipes and news from the makers of Zest Recipe Manager

This dish is a simple, healthy flavour bomb. It takes just minutes to cook, gives you a good serve of greens and is absolutely loaded with garlic and umami to have your tastebuds dancing. It really shows you what a little dressing can do to make an ordinary side dish extraordinary!

This garlic anchovy crumb can be used to dress many things but goes particularly well with slightly bitter greens. To get the most out of it you want uneven breadcrumbs: some chunky for crunch and some finer to soak in the flavoured oils from your pan. These aren’t so easy to buy, but they are very easy to make yourself. Just take a stale end of a loaf, dried in a very low oven if need be, cut off any crust that’s too hard and chop roughly. If it’s dry enough it will naturally break up into some finer pieces too, if not give some chunks a few pulses in a small food processor to break them down further.

The key to the kale itself is quick cooking. Like most fresh vegetables if you overcook it you lose the flavour and are left with only the bitterness. Try to buy younger kale if you can: with thinner tender stems that you can keep as part of the dish. If your bunch has thick stems you may need to trim them out (you can always use these trimmings in a soup or stock).

Sautéed Kale with Garlic Anchovy Crumb

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 4-6 (as a side)

A simple, healthy flavour bomb!

Ingredients

1 bunch kale, washed, trimmed and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

For the crumb:

1/3 cup rough breadcrumbs (make your own if you can)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 anchovy fillet, finely diced/mashed

pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the crumb: heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan or wok over a medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toss for 1 minute so they coat with oil and begin to colour.

Add the garlic, anchovy and salt and continue cooking, stirring constantly until the crumbs are golden and fragrant. (Take care not to burn the garlic.) Set aside and wipe out the pan.

Heat a fresh tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the kale. Sauté, tossing constantly, until just cooked (it only takes 1-2 minutes).

To serve: spread the kale in a bowl and scatter the crumb over the top (so it stays crispy!).

The rainy weather in Sydney recently has been a downer, but there is the occasional ray of light. As the sun peeked from behind the clouds one afternoon the city was greeted by a stunning double rainbow. Cellular networks immediately melted down as Instagram and Facebook feeds across the country where overwhelmed by colourful images.

As it happened on the very same day my kitchen was filled with a rainbow of the chard kind. This glorious vegetable always draws the eye at the market, and on this occasion I yielded and bought a bunch. With vibrant colour on my mind I choose a mix of red and golden beetroots too: appearing in both sweet (roasted) and sour (pickled) guises here. The resulting dish is an explosion of contrasting colours and flavours: even the staunchest salad hater would have to admit this catches your eye and tickles your palate! It can be served at room temperature but is even better if the roasted beets are still a little warm from the oven.

Note: the recipe requires pickled beets; you can make your own quickly and easily using my Quick-Pickled Beets method!

Rainbow Chard and Beet Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 6 (as a side)

A hearty and stunning salad of contrasting colours and flavours!

Ingredients

1 bunch rainbow chard

400g beetroot, diced (3-4 medium beets)

50g pickled beetroot slices (see previous recipe)

80g persian feta

Small handful pine nuts, lightly toasted

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch salt and pepper

For the dressing:

1 tablespoon apple cider vinger

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Toss the diced beets in 2 tablespoons of oil and season well with salt and pepper. Wrap them tightly in an aluminium foil parcel, place in a baking dish and roast until just tender, about 1 hour.

Prepare the chard by removing tough ends, washing, then separating the stems and leaves. Keep the colourful stems intact but chop the leaves into manageable pieces.

Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and blanch the chard stems until just tender (still firm enough to keep some shape when held horizontally), this could take anything from 3-10 minutes. As soon as cooked remove from the pot and cool in the ice water.

Next blanch the leaves, these will only required 1-2 minutes. Again cool in the ice bath immediately to keep the vibrant colour and avoid overcooking. Set the cooked steams and leaves aside in a colander to dry until ready to serve.

To make the dressing whisk the cider vinegar and olive oil well with a pinch of salt.

To serve: arrange the chard in a large bowl and dress well, tossing to coat. Cover with layers of roasted and pickled beets, then top with hunks of feta and a scattering of pine nuts. Finish with cracked black pepper.

Honey and fennel is a wonderful combination that I explored previously with my Honey Balsamic Roasted Fennel with Sweet Potato recipe. For these warmer days I decided to use the same combo in a lighter way via a vibrant salad featuring slivers of fresh lemon. Fennel with citrus is a well-worn path; fine fresh fennel paired with orange makes a wonderful salad. But this is something different — a bold contrast of sweet and sour. It takes some care, the lemon slivers must be very fine (as you can see above they are thin enough to see through) and the lemon itself not too sour. If you’re worried then using a milder meyer lemon is a safer option. But when you get it right the result is truly mouth watering!

You could try lots of different leaves with this salad but for me watercress is just right. It has the right amount of crispness in the stems and a lovely subtle pepper flavour that combines well with lemon. Just make sure you break longer stems up a bit, or you’ll end up looking like a cow grazing on long grass!

Honey Glazed Fennel and Lemon Salad

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 4 as a side

A bold contrast of sweet honey and sour lemon build on the subtle aniseed of roasted fennel.

Ingredients

For the glazed fennel:

2 fennel bulbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

For the dressing:

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

1 small bunch watercress

1/2 a lemon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Trim the fennel tops and the bottom of the core, leaving enough core to hold the slices together. Cut lengthwise into 2mm thick slices and lay out on lined baking trays. Reserve a couple of small pieces that fall away for later garnishing, sliced into very fine slivers.

Add the olive oil and honey to a small saucepan and heat gently so the honey softens enough to combine them. Brush each slice of fennel lightly on both sides with the honey mixture.

Roast the fennel for 15-20 minutes, until soft and golden. You may want to turn the slices after 10 minutes to get more even colouring.

While the fennel is cooking prepare the lemon. Cut away the skin, including the white pith, then carefully slice out thin slivers. You should get 2-4 slices from each natural segment of the lemon, making them as thin as possible. Reserve some juice for the dressing while you do this.

To make the dressing: combine oil, honey and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Season to taste.

When the fennel is cooked remove and set aside for a few minutes to cool.

To assemble the salad: roughly tear or chop the watercress and place into a mixing bowl. Add the dressing and mix well. Lay out a base of fennel slices on your serving plate, top with the dressed watercress then scatter over lemon slivers. Garnish with fine slivers of fresh fennel.

As a follow up for my previous post, here is a fresh yet hearty salad I’ve perfected recently. The initial inspiration for this recipe came from a similar salad at a local cafe Ciao Thyme. This is the closest answer Balmain has to the amazing Ottolenghi cafes (London, I miss you!). Yotam himself has a hand in this by introducing barberries into my pantry: these little Persian jewels look like ruby currants and have a wonderful burst of sourness that complements many dishes. I found mine at the local Essential Ingredient, but if you can’t get hold of them Ottolenghi suggests soaking currants in lemon juice as an alternative.

The base of this salad is fresh fresh fresh. Chunks of seasonal cucumber mixed with piles of mixed herbs then punctuated with crunchy pistachios and sweet and sour berries. This alone, with a simple lemon dressing, is sure to wake up your tastebuds!

Then you layer the real heart of the salad, which turns it into something new again. Flakes of delicate hot smoked trout, and those Perfect Salad Eggs. The smokiness and richness fleshes the whole dish out — with a bit of bread you’ve got lunch sorted. Or throw it into the middle of the table as part of a dinner party feast, your guests haven’t tried anything quite like it before!

Hot Smoked Trout Herb Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 7 mins

Total time: 32 mins

Serves: 4-6 (as a side)

A fresh green base laced with sweet and sour touches then topped with smoky fish and soft boiled eggs, this salad will wake up your tastebuds!

Ingredients

For the base:

1 large cucumber

6 spring onions

1 medium bunch parsley, roughly chopped

1 small bunch mint, roughly chopped

1 small handful dill, torn

1/4 cup pistachios, lightly crushed

2-3 tablespoons currants

2-3 tablespoons barberries

For topping:

100g hot smoked trout

4 eggs

black pepper

For the dressing:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice (half a lemon will suffice)

a good pinch of salt

Instructions

Start the eggs first so they will be ready for topping later. Bring a small saucepan of water to a very gentle boil then add the eggs slowly (to avoid cracking the shells). Assuming the eggs are cold from the fridge they should be simmered for 7 minutes then drained and immediately added to a bowl of room temperature water to cool for later handling.

Halve the cucumber lengthwise then scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Dice into 1cm cubes.

Clean the spring onions and slice, on an angle, into 2mm thick pieces.

Who needs a recipe to boil an egg? As it turns out: I did! I love using eggs in salads, they add a richness and body that can turn a simple side into a meal. The problem is that boiled eggs can be tricky: if underdone they make a mess, if overdone the yolks are chalky and unpleasant. So I’ve worked on a low-fuss, reliable way to get my boiled eggs Just So for salads, with the following requirements:

The yolks must be as soft as possible while still holding in the egg when cut and (gently) tossed into a salad. Oozy eggs are great for other uses, but not my salads. Chalky eggs are good for nothing!

It must work on standard sized eggs (around 55-57g, sold as large in Australia).

It must work on eggs from the fridge. I don’t want to have to wait for eggs to come to room temperature, as that takes a long (and variable) amount of time.

It must eliminate as many variables as possible, so it is reliable. For example, I don’t like methods where the eggs are put into cold water then brought to the boil, because the time to boil varies based on several factors (volume of water, heat of stove, starting water temperature).

After a bit of experimentation, I have a method that delivers all of the above, and is almost foolproof. Behold the results:

As you can see the yolks are barely set, so they squish a little when cutting but hold in the whites. You can even quarter the eggs with care and the yolks will stay in place. These are my Perfect Salad Eggs!

Perfect Salad Eggs

Prep time: 3 mins

Cook time: 7 mins

Total time: 10 mins

A simple method to get eggs Just So for use in salads.

Ingredients

55g eggs, from the fridge

Instructions

Prepare a bowl full of room temperature water, deep enough to cover the eggs, for cooling later.

Heat a saucepan of water so that it is barely simmering, i.e. you see only a few bubbles rising.

Using a spoon, carefully add each egg to the water. To avoid the shells cracking (from the sudden temperature change), dip and remove each egg a couple of times before gently lowering them to the bottom of the pan. This is the only part of the process that could go wrong, so take a little care.

Keep the water on a bare simmer for 7 minutes, then drain and immediately add the eggs to the bowl of room temperature water to cool.

When the eggs are cool enough to handle peel them by tapping the bottom on a hard surface to crack, then working the shell off from the bottom up with your fingertips.

Leave the eggs whole until ready to serve, then halve (or quarter) and toss gently into your salad.

Notes

Eggs can be tricky to peel, as the shell can stick. There are a few supposed tricks to help, but the only thing I’ve found that makes a difference is using older eggs.

Hi all, we’re back in action! This year I’m aiming report my experiences using recipes from more Zest-compatible sites, and Zest Tests are the perfect way to do so. Here’s a simple, fresh start.

Recipe

The family farm (really, my in-laws’ backyard!) has been delivering the goods regularly this summer. Lately we’ve been treated to amazingly fresh, crunchy cucumbers. A perfect ingredient for summer, I’ve been trying out and Googling for a few new ways to use them. Finding a bit of cabbage hanging around the fridge I was inspired to try this Crunchy Pickled Salad from Tori Avey aka The Shiksa in the Kitchen. It’s a simple combo of crunchy ingredients with a dill-spiked white wine vinegar dressing.

My Tweaks

I made only minor changes. As my cucumbers come straight from the yard, I didn’t use the prescribed persian variety, but the freshness of these continental ones can’t be beaten. As suggested by Tori I also increased the proportion of white wine vinegar and salt a little, to try to give the salad an extra pickled “kick”.

Challenges and Tips

This is a super-simple recipe, so no challenges to mention. One tip: reserve a bit of the dressing for serving. This is a salad that needs to sit in its dressing for a while to develop flavour, but this does mean the dressing will drain to the bottom to some degree. An extra toss before serving and the option to add a little more dressing after serving helps.

Verdict

This salad is perfect for lunch on a hot day and/or a great accompaniment to a rich dish. It does what it says on the tin: the base is crunchy, the dressing has a fresh zing of vinegar and dill, and the radishes offer a nice bite too. My only question is whether the salad would benefit from a bit more pickling than the prescribed 30 minutes. It is a trade-off, as you can lose some freshness of the cut ingredients, but something worth trying in future.

I confess I’m not a fan of many coleslaws, I find them way too heavy. Some seem to be made with more mayonnaise than salad! So I set out to create a much lighter version, where you actually taste the fresh crunch of the vegetables. The sort of salad that you can dig into multiple times on a hot summer day without guilt.

They key change is using crème fraîche in place of mayonnaise for a lighter tang with a lot less fat. A mixture of apple and cabbage adds to the sweet and sour mix while retaining the crunchy texture. Using verjuice as part of the dressing in place of some vinegar tops off the fresh vibe. A final flourish of mint adds a new dimension that makes the slaw stand on its own.

A fresh side that will make you reimagine coleslaw as a light summer salad!

Ingredients

1/2 head of wombok, shredded

1/4 head red cabbage, shredded

1 bunch mint, roughly chopped

3 red apples

200g crème fraîche

75mL verjuice

50mL apple cider vinegar

25mL lemon juice

Instructions

Combine the wombok, cabbage and mint in a large mixing bowl.

Add the vinegar and lemon juice to another mixing bowl, ready to coat the apple (the acid will stop the apple from browning).

Cut the apples into thin strips. This is easiest if you first cut the apples into thin slices with a mandolin, and then divide stacks of these slices into strips with a knife. Add the strips to the bowl of vinegar as you go, coating them well to stop them discolouring.

Add the apple strips to the cabbage and mix well.

Combine the crème fraîche and verjuice with a good pinch of salt and pepper to form a dressing. Dress the slaw just before serving, check the seasoning and add extra salt as required.

Notes

Try radicchio in place of red cabbage to give this salad a new, bitter dimension.

This is Jane’s signature dish and her most sought-after recipe! A rice salad that is fresh and bursting with different flavours and textures. Just look at the brilliant colours: verdant coriander and pistachios contrast with ruby cranberries and jewels of pomegranate. The looks are more than matched by the taste: every mouthful is an explosion of sweet and sour, bitter and fresh, underlined by wholesome rice and nuts. It’s so good you could eat it as a meal on its own, although we more regularly have it as a side in a large spread. Perfect for a BBQ or picnic, just be ready to let your friends know where you got the recipe from ;).

This recipe is our favourite combination, but is ripe for experimentation. Don’t worry if you can’t get all the ingredients, add your own style! If you can’t get pomegranate, for example, try adding some more herbs instead. Mix up the nuts and fruit to your own taste. The dressed rice is a perfect canvas to create your own work of art.

Jane’s Rice Salad

Serves: 8 as a side

A fresh and surprise-packed rice salad that tastes as amazing as it looks!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups brown rice

2 limes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Seeds from 1 pomegranate

1 cup currants

3/4 cup dried cranberries

2/3 cup pistachio kernels, roughly chopped

1/2 cup almond slivers

1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Instructions

Cook the brown rice using your preferred method and set aside to cool in a large salad bowl.

Toast the pistachios and almonds in a 150°C oven (or a dry frying pan) until lightly browned, around 4-5 minutes.

Combine the zest and juice of the limes with the olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper to form a dressing. Mix into the rice thoroughly.

Add the remaining ingredients to the rice and toss to distribute evenly. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

To remove the seeds from a pomegranate, fill a large bowl with cold water. Cut the pomegranate in half crosswise, then hold a half cut side down in your outstretched fingers over the bowl. Give the back of pomegranate half several good whacks with a wooden spoon and the seeds, plus some pith, will drop into the bowl. Repeat with the other half. The pith will float so you can remove it easily, then gather the seeds by straining off the water.

Grapes are a fruit we appreciate in many different forms: fresh, pressed, fermented and dried. One simple but under-appreciated method of using grapes is roasting. This salad aims to showcase the sweet deliciousness of roasted grapes by adding just a couple of other components — cheese and lemon — as contrast.

Roasted Grape and Blue Cheese Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 4 (as a side)

A salad that is simple yet a little different. Roasting grapes concentrates their flavour, which is offset beautifully by soft cheese.

Ingredients

200g rocket, washed

400g grapes (any seedless variety)

60g blue cheese

1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Set aside around 8-10 of the grapes to serve fresh. Halve these grapes lengthwise.

Add the remaining grapes to a small casserole dish. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Roast until soft but still holding some shape (25-30 minutes).

Using a slotted spoon, remove the grapes from the dish and set aside.

Add the juice and zest of the lemon half and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the grape juices in the dish. Whisk well, making sure you incorporate the delicious sticky bits! Check for seasoning, then transfer the resulting dressing to a small jug for serving.

To serve: add the rocket to a salad bowl, crumble and scatter the blue cheese on the leaves then top with fresh and roasted grapes.

Dress the salad just before eating.

Notes

As the grapes cook they release a sweet and sticky juice that is too good to waste. Make sure you roast in a dish that will retain all that goodness for the dressing.

You could try other soft cheeses in this salad, just make sure they can stand up to the sweetness of the grapes.